


Overcoming the Balance

by dearxalchemist



Series: Our Balancing Act [2]
Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: F/M, Kate Centric, Multi, ot3 relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-15
Updated: 2014-10-15
Packaged: 2018-02-21 07:39:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2460242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearxalchemist/pseuds/dearxalchemist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kate Fuller will not give up the Gecko brothers. </p>
<p>No fist, no swift kick will have her giving up the brothers. No one will take them from her. </p>
<p>No one will take their freedom and that includes her own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Overcoming the Balance

**Author's Note:**

> This is extremely lightly edited. I apologize for crazy/weird mistakes. I was impatient and didn't ask for a beta. Forgive me. There is also a pretty good mention of Seth/Kate/Richie as a general couple. I have ot3 problems.

She’s arrested on the brink of dawn. The bodies have not all turned to dust and she’s covered in blood when the police find her. Seth and Richie are gone. To where, she has no idea and she’s scared. Her heart is slamming against the cage of her ribs and her hair is a snarled mess. There’s culebra guts all over the front of her clothing, there’s plenty of blood streaking down the side of her throat but none of it is hers. When she looks over the shoulders of the police there’s nothing. No Seth to fight the men off of her, no Richie to smooth talk them out. They’re gone but they can’t be far and she holds on to a slight hope that they’re watching the police throw her to the ground and kneel on her back.

She can’t breathe. There’s desert sand clotting her throat and Kate coughs as a hand presses on the back of her head and her hands are forced behind her back. She can feel the cold bite of metal as they handcuff her and she thinks they’re reading her the last rights in Spanish but she can’t really tell. In a matter of seconds she feels hands on her upper arms and they’re hauling her to her feet. Kate’s sneakers lose traction against the sand with the pulling of the police. They’re steering her towards squadron cars and her eyes are on the horizon. She’s waiting on the sun to come and erase the stars. It’s taking too long. The bodies are slowly fading but not fast enough for Kate. She’s being hauled into one of the cars, door held open and a hand on the back of her head. She’s shoved inside like a common criminal. 

Kate doesn't cry or object to anything when the officers slide in to the front seats. She’s kept in the back and separated by a grate. It makes her think of a dog in a kennel, she’s locked inside and no amount of crying will set her free. Instead her hands are working on the cuffs. She’s pulling and tugging at them but all they do is bite in to her flesh. They’re way too tight. Her lips are pressed together and she’s overall unimpressed with the whole scenario, thinking to herself that any moment now her boys will come in guns blazing. They’ll set up a roadblock, they’ll rear end the car, or come up with some plan to steal her back. She was their hostage first. The ideas are rolling around in her pretty little head when she lays her head back against the seat. She’s still covered in blood and it’s tacky against her flesh. She can feel it drying, flaking in some places and when the officer in the passenger seat looks over at her, Kate grins. She gives them a showing of teeth all pristine, white, and sardonic and it does the trick. The officer mumbles something while doing the sign of the cross before turning back in his seat.

She must look like a serial killer. When he turns away from her she lets her eyes roll over to the window. There’s nothing but desert and a small town coming in to view. She can make out the tops of buildings in the dust clouds and her feet kick out a bit, hitting the driver’s seat. Kate is exhausted. She hasn't slept yet and usually around this time the boys and her are settling in to another motel. They’re cleaning the evidence of the supernatural off of them and arguing over which side of the bed to take when Kate flops in the middle. She spreads out with her hands and always laughs when they pick her up and move her. Fighting over her next. Which one gets to hold her by the waist and who gets the first goodnight kiss. 

They aren't with her now. There is no Gecko on either side of her. She’s alone in the center of the back seat. 

The town is coming closer in to view and a few buildings pass by the windows. Kate’s Spanish is vague but she can make out a bank, a hotel and a few other establishments. They get further into the city and she can tell by the way the car slows that they’re at the station. The officer driving mumbles something to his partner and his partner is nodding his dark head. He glances over his shoulder to Kate and before she can smile at him again, the driver slams on the brakes and she goes sliding forward, falling against the front seat. Her head smacks the grate and she sees stars for a moment. 

There’s a round of laughter from the front seat. 

Kate groans but she squelches any insults that are hanging on the tip of her tongue. She won’t speak to the police. If she speaks to them then she could ruin everything. She could ruin the happiness with a few innocent words to the guys in uniforms. So she makes a promise to herself, she’s going to keep her lips sealed. The brothers will find her soon. She knows they will, they wouldn't leave her behind. Kate has no proof other than the trust she’s built with them. There’s no gold cross at her throat anymore. Richie wears it. There’s no promise ring on her left hand. Seth has that on a chain around his neck. She wears nothing of theirs, except for the occasional pair of boxers or button up shirt. Kate lives in her own kind of luxury. There’s never enough money and the work is messy but the love is gold. 

The door opens while she’s trying to situate herself on the seat once more. Kate’s rear barely touches the edge of the seat when there’s hands on her upper arms and hauling her out. Her feet leave the pavement for a moment and she curses being petite before kicking out. The officers lower her just enough for her to touch the ground and they’re not gentle when they get her up the steps of the station. Like every other building in Mexico, its an old brick face with a faded sign, and desert sand is embedded in everything. Kate is hauled through the door and taken to the right. She’s pulled past a bulletin board that catches her eyes, the mugshots of her boys are pinned up with the wanted lettering under their handsome faces. She slows her paces looking over the rewards the poster boasts before the officer’s hand comes down on her back and pushes her forward. She is stumbling to a row of chairs facing a desk and they set her down in a chair. One officer kneels in front of her and the other crosses his arms over his over-sized chest. The officer kneeling in front of her looks young. He’s got small shocks of gray in his dark hair and thin lips that are pressed in to a line when he’s looking at her. Kate resists the urge to lean back further in the cheap seat. He asks her something in Spanish and she cocks her head to the side, both brows going up. 

“English,” Kate leans in a bit. Her hair falls over her forehead and it sticks against her bloody cheek. “I speak English compadre.” 

She’s picked up a thing or two from Seth. It shows in the way she speaks to people who aren't like her. People who don’t hunt the snakes that roam the desert. Her Spanish isn't bad but it’s not great and right now she’s not in the mood to talk to the police. 

The cop with the thin lips looks over and up to his partner and mutters something quickly in Spanish. The other man who’s way too big for his standard issue uniform nods in agreement. Without warning there are hands under her arms again. She’s being hauled up and over to a desk. They uncuff her but hold her hands tightly. She knows there’s going to be bruises later from cuffs and their man-handling skills. She’s pulled up to the desk and they take her hands. Each finger is rolled across an ink pad and she starts resisting. 

Her prints can not go on file. She can’t be identified as Katherine Fuller. Not here, not now or ever. She can’t risk being taken from her new life. She can’t risk being sent back over the border and forced to relive the past through media attention. So she resists them and the more she resists the more they press her forward. In the end Kate loses. They grip her hands and press her fingers over papers. They do each finger until all of her digits are coated in black and she’s lead over to another part of the building. It’s a holding cell with no one in it until they open the cage and push her inside, re-cuffing her. Kate’s balance is not the best. She wobbles for a moment before taking a seat on the bench that sits in the center of the cell. It’s an open cell on two sides. She can see most of the small station and it’s workers and judging by the buzz, they don’t get a lot of Americans in this part of the country. She can tell because they’re requesting anyone who speaks English to come talk to the suspect. 

Suspect. 

If the boys could see her now. A common criminal like them. A real one with the smudged fingers and red lines around her wrists from cuffs. Preacher’s daughter has struck again, twisting and turning the very image of herself. She’s no longer lost in that labyrinth under the twister. She’s hardened edges and mission oriented and right now that mission is to get herself out of here and back to her boys. They’re close by, she can feel it. It’s hard to explain but she counts it as faith. Her back starts to ache and her fingers are falling asleep in the cuffs. She’s uncomfortable and has to pee but she’s not going to ask for any help. She’s not going to say a word.

The police keep her in there for a little over an hour before she’s collected. Arms haul her up and and she awkwardly steps with their pulling. They let her out of the cell and down a white hallway that's covered in more wanted posters, help line numbers, and missing children s faces. Kate’s eyes slip down to the floor and she watches her feet doing the awkward shuffle and then they take her left into a room that looks like the ones on television. It’s small and dimly lit. The walls are a dingy white color and there's a massive two-way mirror she can’t see past but she knows there’s people on the other side of it. There’s a table in the middle with a fold out chair on either side. The officer plants her in one chair and then motions to the door. 

Kate glances up at the mirror to see most of the blood on her has dried. It’s flaking along her cheeks and down on to her shirt but, none of that bothers her. She’s more interested in the bruise forming from where she’s hit the grate in the car and she knows Richie won’t be thrilled about it. Kate’s attention on the mirrored glass doesn't last long though when a woman comes into the room. She’s wearing an expensive blouse and skirt. Her perfume fills the room with the warm scent of golden amber and lilacs. Kate doesn't wear perfume so the scent is almost choking her but, she resists scooting back in her seat. The woman looks nice enough. She’s got warm brown hair and tan skin with dark eyes. She smiles warmly to Kate and takes the seat across from her. The heavier officer from earlier closes the door and stands behind the woman. 

“Hello dear,” The woman starts as she reaches across the table, like she wants to shake Kate’s hand. Kate draws her handcuffed hands back and settles back into her chair, giving the woman a raised eyebrow. “You’re an American, so they've brought me into translate a few questions for you. Do you mind answering some? I know you’re tired and probably need to wash up so we’ll make this quick as long as you cooperate.” 

Her sweet voice is laced with something deadly. Kate can tell by the way her eyes flick side to side. She’s not looking her in the eye and she’s being overly sweet. The officer behind the woman leans down and asks something in Spanish. Kate can pick out a few words, mostly Gecko sticks out to her and she stops listening. 

The woman turns her head over for a moment and asks something back to the officer. They exchange a few words and then the woman adjusts herself in the seat and looks back to Kate. “What’s your name dear? Are you traveling alone?” 

Kate says nothing. She’s got her hands cuffed in front of her and she’s picking at the blood that has found its way under her nails. They’re turning brownish from the drying blood. If she were still the old Kate, she’d be complaining about needing a manicure and possibly a pedicure to match but, this Kate is different. This Kate is covered in culebra blood and guts, unflinching. 

“What is your name?” The woman asks again and the officer behind her grunts something unintelligible by Kate. Her eyes flick up to him and she can see the veins forming in his forehead. She’s already on his nerves and it does nothing but make her smile. She gives the woman a lazy look before flicking her gaze back to her hands. This continues on for a while before the man leaves the room. When he’s gone the woman leans across the table and pleads with Kate. She tells her that the police here are different from those in America. Here they do not care if she is a young, lost woman. Kate bites back the urge to laugh. She is not lost. 

The man comes back a few moments later and he’s holding a blue binder open. He hands two pieces of paper to the woman who in turn places them on the table. “Do you know these men?” 

Her manicured fingers spread out over the tops of the paper and on to the black and white images of her boys. On the right is Seth and the left is Richie with his glasses. They look handsome even in mugshots. There’s a hefty reward plastered under their faces in red ink. It offers an absurd amount of money for their capture, tempting the public to turn them in for a reward. Kate won’t do that. She’s not likely to ever fall into that temptation. It’s when she doesn’t say anything though that the woman leans over the table a little more. “You do, don’t you?” 

Kate reaches her cuffed hands out and she touches the edge of the paper for a moment. Her fingertips trace up and over the black and white photos. She wants to pull the paper in, but somehow refrains herself. Instead she lets her gaze flick back up to the woman and then she settles back in her chair.

“Nope,” She answers while pronouncing the last letters of the word with a pop of her lips. 

“I think you do.”

“Well, I don’t.” Kate answers once more as she settles back into the chair and crosses her ankles. This is as rebellious as she can manage in her current situation and it works in her favor because the cop behind the woman is getting irritated more and more by the second. It makes her lips curve at the edges, fingers pulling on the cuffs a little more. She just needs to wait it out a little longer. If she can wait it out then they’ll come. They’ll come for her like they always do. 

The photos are pushed a little closer to Kate by the woman followed by a few polaroids taken from security cameras. There’s the outline of Kate in black and white with her arm around Richie’s waist but the angle of the camera has her face cut out. They don’t know for certain if the girl in the photo is really Kate. Kate knows it’s her but the people before her are only guessing. 

“Is this you?” The woman asks pointing at the female figure in the photo. Kate makes a show of leaning over and looking at the photo. It’s grainy like its off some security footage and her arm is around Richie’s waist but her other hand is linked with Seth’s hand. She can still remember the feeling of his larger hand enveloping hers. She can remember that night like it was yesterday and while she shakes her head no, her insides are screaming yes. 

The woman shows her another photo on top of that one. It’s Seth holding up a bank and a smaller figure behind him. “Is this you behind Seth Gecko?” The woman asks and she’s skeptical about Kate now. There’s something in her voice that makes Kate realize the woman knows the truth. She must know that the images is of Kate. That she is the link to the infamous criminals. 

The police must know it too. Kate doesn't say anything though. 

“You were found covered in blood with a lot of bodies. You’re only hurting yourself if you don’t cooperate.” 

“I don’t talk to cops.” Kate informs the woman.

“You need to help us, help you. Turn these men in. They’re bad men dear,” She speaks like she knows them personally. This woman has no idea who the Gecko brothers really are. She has no idea how protective Seth is or how smart Richie is. She has no idea how both of them love her and how important Kate is to them. This woman has no clue just how they work as a mismatch trio.

“Not happening.” The spitfire snaps at the woman and she glares across the table. 

“We’re going to get them and you’re going to cooperate. We’ll help you. You just need to help us. Where are they?” 

When Kate doesn't answer, the cop behind her explodes. He is a storm of obscenities that she can't quite all translate but Kate knows they’re bad. She doesn't flinch and instead tries to keep a bored look about her face. He pulls on the other woman and ushers her out of the room. His voice is loud and booming against the thin walls. Then he crosses the room and turns off the camera that is poised high in the corner. Kate’s stomach suddenly drops and it feels like she’s swallowed lead. Shifting in her seat she starts moving like she can actually run but, she knows it’s no use when the second cop comes through the door. 

The preacher’s daughter sinks back into her chair and she steels herself. The skinnier cop points at the photos on the table. She can make out his words as he points from the photo to her, “You.” He implicates her without a shred of doubt in his words. 

Kate shakes her head gently, “No way.” 

The bigger cop starts his circling. Kate feels like a bleeding fish in a tank full of sharks. 

Her eyes flick from the photos to the bigger cop. She tries to watch him and his circling until he cuts behind her, blocked from her view. Before Kate can do anything there’s a hand on the back of her neck and then her head is being forced forward. She resists just enough for him to smack her forehead into the metal table. Her head is filled with the loud ringing noise and her teeth are clenched tightly together. She’s breathing harder and he’s pushing her head on to the photos. Kate can still see Seth’s gaze in the photo and she can hear his voice in her head, telling her to fight. 

“Fuck you.” Kate mouths and the cop lets go of her for a moment and then grips on to her neck once more and anchors her head back to look at him. 

“Que?” He asks her to repeat her words with this warning tone lacing his accented words. The hand on her neck is big and his fingers are easily closing over the flesh like he’s just waiting on her to insult him again. 

Kate doesn’t disappoint. In true Gecko fashion she goes down swinging. “I said, fuck you!” She shouts the last two words and his hand slams her head against the table once more. Her nose connects and there’s a spray of warm blood down the front of her lips. She sees stars and the world is fuzzy before it comes back into focus. 

The cop points at the photos again. Some of her blood has splashed across the black and white photos. It almost looks like a work of art. She shakes her head and spits blood out of her mouth on to his hand that’s poised on the table. There’s another explosion of Spanish outrage and Kate’s chair is knocked out from under her. She smacks the ground a little too hard. Her cuffed hands are trying to push her up and there’s blood dripping from her nose to the ground. She feels a burst of heat against her back and she know’s she’s been kicked. 

Kate Fuller will not give up the Gecko brothers. 

No fist, no swift kick will have her giving up the brothers. No one will take them from her. No one will take their freedom and that includes her own. She hunts culebra for a better tomorrow and the police are only standing in her way. They want the boys for breaking the law and Kate is their accomplice. Or at least that’s what they’re probably thinking. They have no idea who she was a little over a year ago. They have no idea she was just a girl in the wrong place at the right time. 

There’s a palm that collides with her face and she sees stars all over again. The pain explodes over the side of her tan face and her head whips to the side. This is only the first of many strikes. She’s becoming a bit of a masochist between blows. She asks them if its all they have and if they’re getting off to it. It does nothing but anger them. The blows become harder but she still doesn't give up the boys. 

The interrogation goes on for what seems like hours but Kate has lost track of time. She’s hurting. There’s fresh blood coating over the old and when the police officers are called from the room, she braces herself for a new round of torment. She does not crack though. She manages to push herself up from the floor and on to her knees when the door opens again. Kate’s teeth clench and she’s breathing shallow when she raises herself up. She’s ready for round two when her eyes land on a familiar face. He’s wearing his glasses and dressed in a uniform like a police officer, but his boyish smile is all gone. 

A smile breaks out over her broken face, “I knew you’d come.”


End file.
